


Garden Play

by Cherry_Sofa_729



Series: Unfortunate Circumstances [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Accidental wetting, Bathing/Washing, Couch Cuddles, Done in a kid sense, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Kid Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Kid Fic, Light Angst, Parent Deceit | Janus Sanders, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Poverty, Wetting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28377534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherry_Sofa_729/pseuds/Cherry_Sofa_729
Summary: Remus is hogging mama Janus’ attention again, but this time baby Virgil really really has to go
Series: Unfortunate Circumstances [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050605
Comments: 5
Kudos: 84





	Garden Play

**Author's Note:**

> Note: they’re in poverty, and baby Virgil pees himself

It was a nice day out. 

Virgil got a handful of grass and threw it, watching it blow in the wind. There wasn’t much grass left around him, but he didn’t feel like getting up and moving. 

He flopped down on his back and made grabby hands up towards the sky. He could hear Ree chasing the chickens around, his laughter and Henrietta’s squawking. 

Mama was working in the garden. Virgil was supposed to be helping by pulling weeds, but he’d much rather look up at the sky. 

The earth was dry and his shoes kicked up little dust clouds as he rubbed his feet back and forth. He could hear the gentle rain sounds of mama’s watering can behind him. 

Remus wasn’t laughing anymore. He probably found a bug or something. 

Or he found another piece of trash he really liked. Remus often snuck dirty things in from the garden, like junk he managed to dig up or creepy crawly bugs that would make Patton scream and cry. 

They didn’t make Virgil cry. Virgil loved bugs. Especially spiders. He could make spiders do what he wanted! Wasn’t that neat? Mama didn’t know about that secret, but Virgil was using it to have all the spiders in their house live in his nursery and hide really well when Mama comes in. He loved all his spider friends and Mama might kill them, so they had to be a secret. 

Remus said Mama was a neat freak, which apparently meant someone who wanted cleanness before fun. Mama sure was like that. 

His face scrunched up suddenly. He had to go. 

A while ago mama had told him that he wouldn’t be able to have diapers anymore. He said Virgil was too old for them. Which made sense, after all, Remus only needed diapers sometimes at night, and Virgil wanted to be big like Remus. He wanted to be mama’s big, strong boy. 

He had a lot of accidents though, which made him cry and his mama sigh because he had even more laundry to do. Virgil hated making his mama stressed. 

Even if he was pretty sure it wasn’t his fault mama was stressed. He was pretty sure he was still supposed to be in diapers, they just couldn’t afford them anymore. 

They couldn’t afford a lot of things anymore. 

But that didn’t matter, because he was a big boy, with no diaper, and he didn’t need one. He was 2 (and a half) and big enough to go and tell his mama he had to go pee. 

He forced himself up onto his pudgy little legs and toddled over to Janus. 

Janus was watering his bean plants, looking at the flowers. His faded yellow sundress was starting to fray around the edges, and the pocket of his cream coloured apron was full of different tools. 

“Mama! I gotta tibble.” Virgil said, tugging on the end of Janus’ dress. 

Janus smiled, adjusting his gardening gloves. “Alright. Give me a second to get your brother, then we’ll head inside.” He stood up, patted Virgil on the head (getting some dirt in his hair) and headed over to the chicken coop to find Remus. 

Virgil nodded and waited patiently by the garden. 

He waited. The bean plants had a ton of flowers and that meant lots of beans! Lots of food! Which was very very good, Virgil hated when he would be cuddling mama and his stomach would growl. 

He waited. 

This was longer than it normally took to get Remus. Something was wrong. 

Was Remus okay? Was mama? What if they both got hurt? What if they ran away because they didn’t like Virgil and wanted to leave him forever? 

He whimpered. They wouldn’t leave him, right? His chest felt cramped and his legs tight like coiled springs. Mama said this was his function kicking in, but Virgil never liked when this happened. 

He squirmed and stamped his feet. He was going to be good and wait! Even if he was scared!

He waited. 

He really had to go now, and he really didn’t want to make mama mad by going in his pants. He decided to find him. 

He ran on his little legs over to the chicken coop where-

Remus had a dirty lightbulb lodged in his grinning mouth. Mama was yelling at him and telling him to spit it out. 

Now, Virgil had fit many a square peg into many a round hole, and knew that if you force something in, you often couldn’t pull it out. 

He stood there, watching as Remus ran around, avoiding mama’s six arms as he tried to escape. He laughed and cheered when mama yelled at him. 

Virgil rocked back and forth. “Mama! Tibble!” He shouted, as he started to hurt from holding it. 

Janus didn’t even seem to notice as he managed to grab Remus and was now trying to pull out the lightbulb. But it was firmly stuck in Remus’ mouth. 

Virgil was getting frustrated. Why wasn’t mama paying attention to him! He had to go inside! 

“Mama!” He yelled more frantically as Janus forced Remus’ mouth to open further to try and pry the lightbulb out. 

No response. Mama didn’t care! Mama didn’t care and his belly hurt and Remus was going to get cut in his mouth! Virgil screwed up his face, tears of frustration in his eyes, as he felt something warm and wet run down his pant leg. 

He flopped down in the dirt and wailed, crying as he peed himself. It was too warm and it smelled weird and he tried to go inside! He messed up! He wasn’t a big boy he was just a little stupid baby!

There was the sharp crunch of broken glass as Janus yelling got louder. Remus must’ve eaten the lightbulb. 

Virgil couldn’t see anything through his tears as he waited throughout Remus’ lecture. Remus’ long, long lecture. His pants were sticky, wet and cold, which felt so awful he couldn’t stop crying. The smell was terrible and added to the sensations. Everything was overwhelming. He kicked his legs and began to scream, which finally, finally, got Janus to notice him. 

“Oh dear, baby, I’m sorry, did you have an accident?” Virgil cried louder and nodded his head. “I’m sorry, sweetie, Remus was being stupid again. Remus! Apologize to you brother!”

A slimy tentacles wrapped around his arm and squeezed gently. That was the way Remus said sorry when he didn’t want to talk. Janus must’ve gotten really upset if Remus had gone non verbal. 

“Cept you’re apology.” Virgil said through tears. 

Then, he was scooped into mama’s strong, safe arms and Virgil’s face was wiped with the collar of his sundress. 

He calmed down a little, mama’s arms always felt safe and secure. He was swaddled up and carried on mama’s chest right near his heart, so he could listen to the comforting thuds of his heartbeat. 

“Bath time, I think.” Jansu said, petting Virgil’s hair as the toddler leaned into his chest. Remus whined but didn’t complain. He was already stuck in time out for 20 minutes for eating the lightbulb and distracting Janus. 

Virgil smiled and kicked his legs happily. He wanted his gross, smelly pants off!

Janus hummed to himself as he took them both inside their small, quaint little house and to the bathroom. The chipped porcelain tub was a little grimy, but workable. Janus is a busy mom, he can’t clean everything, even with 6 arms.

He set Virgil on the counter, turned on the tap and prayed for warm water. If not, he’d boil a couple kettles today. Sometimes cold baths would work fine, but not with Virgil so distressed. His boys deserved a hot bath today. 

But luckily, the water was warm. 

He breathed a sigh of relief and got out the washing powder. Dumping in a couple spoonfuls was all he needed, he washed his boy’s hair the day before yesterday. The washing powder was cheap, strong, disinfecting, and did he mention cheap?

Janus tugged off Virgil’s shirt and hoodie before getting rid of the soaked pants. 

He noticed his baby getting a little fussy again, tears running down his soft cheeks. “What’s wrong, angel.” He asked quietly, as to not overwhelm him. “We use words, remember?”

Virgil sniffled and whimpered. “‘M sorry mama. I tried to be a big boy.”

Janus cooed and wiped his tears with his thumb. “It’s okay, angel. It’s not your fault. I was distracted which helping Remus. I should’ve paid more attention to you.”

Virgil sniffled again. “B-but I big boy and I no need diapers!”

“Oh sweetheart. It’s okay. You did so good today by telling me you had to go. It’s my fault you had an accident.” Janus said as he undid Virgil’s medium length hair from its ponytail. He couldn’t handle the sensory impact of haircuts yet. 

“You fault?” 

“My fault.” He said with a smile, pressing a kiss to Virgil’s forehead. 

Virgil finally smiled and stopped crying, a massive win in Janus’ book. He turned around and helped Remus out of his dusty clothes and threw everything in a laundry basket, before undoing Remus’ braid. 

Then, he put them both in the shallow water and got to scrubbing. 

He put a little more of the powder on an old rag and started rubbing it right into his boys’ skin. The washing powder was harsh, and combined with Janus’ tough scrubbing they ended the bath looking like lobsters. But, this method prevented infection like nobody’s business. 

His babies whined and complained as they were washed down, Janus not missing a single spot. Behind the ears, in the belly button, and especially around Virgil’s crotch and bum. He did not have the money for diaper rash right now. 

After they were squeaky clean, he grabbed the brush and started to work through Remus’ hair. Despite the protective French braid, his hair got remarkably tangled. 

As he brushed out his hair, Remus played catty cake with Virgil. NOT patty cake. 

Virgil loved it when Remus would sing. Janus had to admit the boy had a lovely voice, he was a Creativity after all. So Remus singing the cute nursery rhyme always made Virgil clap, laugh and cheer. 

Then, Janus’ tired, worn fingers braided his hair back up, pulling tight to make it stay in place. Remus would scream and yell at this part because mama always yanked his scalp! So Virgil would just splash in the water. 

Until. “Mama! Braid!”

Janus chuckled, looking down at Virgil’s pouty face. “You want a braid?”

“Braid like Remus! I wants braid like Remus!”

Remus’ face broke into a huge smile. He was clearly overjoyed that his brother wanted to look like him. 

Janus sighed. “Okay, but it might hurt.”

He decided to only do a normal braid for Virgil’s hair, not a French one, and with the short length he finished quickly. 

It warmed his cold-blooded snake heart to see Virgil look at Remus, touch his own braid, and start doing his dancy dance, where he bobbed up and down and clapped his hands with joy. He squealed and immediately tugged on Remus’ braid, making the older boy shout and Janus laugh. 

“You like it?” He asked. 

“Yes!” Virgil said, standing up and trying to crawl out of the tub. 

“Whoops! Virgil on the loose!” Janus scooped Virgil up and wrapped him in a dish towel, setting him on the counter before grabbing Remus out and wrapping him up in a bath towel. He made sure Remus was all nice and dry before helping him into a new set of pants and a T-shirt. “Go wait in the kitchen.” He said, letting Remus run off. “And don’t touch the stove or tomorrow’s time out will be 30 minutes!”

Virgil giggled as Remus screamed in fear. Janus chuckled too, before grabbing a clean onesie and helping Virgil into it, doing up the buttons and flipping up the hood. 

“Let’s go make sure your brother didn’t burn the house down in two minutes, okay?” He said, scooping Virgil into his arms again. Virgil cooed and sucked on his thumb as they headed to the kitchen. 

“Milk?” He asked quietly. 

“Hmm. Okay.” Janus supposed they didn’t have to ration much today. Besides, the Mindscape gifted them a whole bunch of food this week. “Big boy milk or little boy milk?” 

“Little.” He said softly, as though ashamed. Little boy milk was their word for formula. 

“That’s okay baby. It’s good to be a little boy once and a while, okay?” He said, getting out the formula mix and some water. He heated the water up briefly before mixing in the powder and pouring it all into a bottle. 

Formula was the one thing the Mindscape supplied in excess. Nutritious and plentiful, Janus could never be mad at Virgil having some even if he had technically outgrown it. 

He gave Virgil the bottle, the toddler closing his lips around it and sucking carefully. His eyes shut with a great amount of peace, as he felt so comfortable in his mama’s arms. 

“Remus, you want anything?” Remus was currently using his tentacles to climb onto the ceiling.

“Juice!” He yelled, hanging upside down off the ceiling and using a tentacle to grab his sippy cup and wave it in front of Janus’ face until he grabbed it. 

He chuckled and filled the cup with water and a squirt of flavouring, before giving it back to the tentacle. 

He watched as Remus scuttled along the ceiling, drinking his juice, before swinging down and flopping onto the threadbare couch with the stuffing coming out. 

The three of them settled onto the couch and Janus turned their TV on. It flickered and fizzled like a can of coke before coming to life, showing an old episode of animaniacs. Remus squealed when pinky and the brain showed up, ready to do their evil deeds. Virgil clapped along to the theme song and tried to sing in his own garbled baby voice. 

Virgil fidgeted in his seat. “Mama, back hurts.” This had only started recently, but damn, he hated it. Who liked being in pain? (Besides Remus)

Mama sighed. He did that an awful lot now. His long fingers wrapped under Virgil’s arms so his thumbs could rub into his shoulder blades. 

Janus decided not to mention he could feel two very solid lumps forming under Virgil’s skin...


End file.
